Automation in Clinical Laboratory
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Automation is the use of various control systems for operating equipments and other
applications with minimum human intervention. The use of automation in clinical
laboratory enables to perform many tests by analytical instruments with minute use
of an analyst. The automated instruments have advantages that laboratories can
process more workload with minimum involvement of manpower. Also, automation
minimizes the chances of variability of results and errors that generally can occur
during manual analysis. Although reproducibility has improved due to the use of
automation in recent years, this may not necessarily be associated with more
accuracy of test results. In fact the accuracy is influenced by the analytical methods
used. The automated analyzers are the mechanized versions of basic manual labora-
tory techniques, and recently, many analytical methods with modification of existing
protocols have been developed which are fast and easy to operate. The use of
analyzers with integrated computer hardware and software has made the job very
easy for clinical laboratories as it provides automatic process control and data
processing. In simple words, the credit for significant improvement in the quality
of laboratory tests in progressive years may be attributed to well-designed automated
instrumentation, improved analytical methods, and effective quality assurance
programs. The use of automated analyzer has many advantages including reduction
of workload, less time consumption per sample analysis, more number of tests done
in less time, use of minute amount of sample, decreased chances of human errors,
and high accuracy and reproducibility.
4.1 Types of Autoanalyzers
There are various variants of autoanalyzers.
Semi-autoanalyzer In semi-autoanalyzer, pipetting of samples, reagent mixing and
incubation, etc. are done manually. The ready sample is kept in autoanalyzer to read
#Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018
V. Kumar, K. D. Gill,Basic Concepts in Clinical Biochemistry: A Practical Guide,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8186-6_4
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